Benefits for Baucus’ girlfriend

Sen. Max Baucus’ girlfriend met with his divorce attorney in 2007, months before the senator and his wife separated, and later received a nearly $14,000 pay raise from Mr. Baucus as they were becoming romantically involved, a spokesman for the senator said Friday.

Melodee Hanes met with the senator’s divorce attorney at least twice in the summer of 2007 when she was director of Mr. Baucus’ Montana office, eight months before Mr. Baucus and his wife, Wanda, separated, the senator’s spokesman said.

Mr. Baucus, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, recommended Miss Hanes for Montana’s U.S. attorney post in February, by which time the two were in a romantic relationship. He has called the former state prosecutor “highly qualified.”

Miss Hanes, 53, withdrew from consideration in March, saying she had received other opportunities she couldn’t pass up. She was hired in June as a top official in the Justice Department.

Mr. Baucus, who turned 68 on Friday, has said he began dating Miss Hanes in the summer of 2008 after they were both separated from their spouses. The two began dating while Miss Hanes worked for him and now live together.

Wanda Baucus, the senator’s second wife, said Friday that she knew nothing about the 2007 meetings and that the couple had not at that point discussed getting a divorce.

“I think this whole thing is very sad. It’s not the way you do things,” she said in an interview.

Ty Matsdorf, a spokesman for Mr. Baucus, said Friday that the meetings between Miss Hanes and divorce lawyer Ron Waterman were in her official role as state director. He said they focused on scheduling and logistics - including how a potential separation between Mr. Baucus and his wife could affect the senator’s travel and work. Mr. Baucus and his wife divorced last April.

“Ending a 25-year marriage is a serious undertaking that should be discussed first within the family,” Mrs. Baucus said. “There’s no justification for the staff being involved in such private matters.”

The meetings were first reported by Lee newspapers.

Mr. Matsdorf said Mr. Baucus gave Miss Hanes a nearly $14,000 pay raise last year as the two were becoming romantically involved.

“Virtually our entire staff saw their salaries increase during that period, and other senior staff members received the same or greater increases, based on their hard work, including Ms. Hanes,” Mr. Matsdorf said.

The raise received by Miss Hanes was the same amount received by Mr. Baucus’ legislative director and less than the raise given to the senator’s chief of staff, Mr. Matsdorf said.

Miss Hanes was paid $126,541 from Oct. 1, 2007, to Sept. 30, 2008, congressional records show.

Mr. Matsdorf also confirmed that Miss Hanes accompanied Mr. Baucus on a taxpayer-funded trip last year to Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Miss Hanes went on the trip, which included a visit to Vietnam, in her official role as state director, along with several other senior staffers, Mr. Matsdorf said.

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